Jaguar F-Type 4WD

To allow the V8 model to drive in a straight line. OK, I’m being facetious. Slightly. But four-wheel drive is a no-brainer these days.

From the Audi R8 and Lambo Huracan to the Porsche 911 and Nissan GT-R, 4WD shows you’re serious about traction. Up until now it wasn’t immediately obvious that the F-Type was serious about traction…

So how does the 4WD work?

It’s available on both the V6 and V8, and both coupe and convertibles, but you can’t have a manual 4WD. Clear?

I’ve only driven it in the V8 R Coupe, but did at least try it on a suitable surface – the dirt of Hakskeen Pan in South Africa, where later this year Bloodhound SSC will aim to break the land speed record. You can read all about that in the February issue of Top Gear mag, on sale now in all good newsagents etc etc.

Anyway, it’s a system that remains rear-wheel drive unless it decides the fronts need to lend a hand. This doesn’t only mean it cuts in when the rear loses traction, though – it’s a bit more intelligent than that, and can activate based on information coming back from various electronic sensors, so the fronts can lend a hand on the way out of corners etc.

Bigger question. Can you still do huge skids?

Not really. I recreated the standard ‘roundabout test’ out at Hakskeen (second gear, quarter of a turn of steering, bury the throttle) and you could feel the rears start to dig and want to arc wide, but in a split second the fronts were pulling the whole thing straight.

Ultimately it settled into a well controlled and easily managed four-wheel drift. Less dramatic, admittedly, but also a lot less frightening on a wet night in Milton Keynes.

Put it this way: I love my oversteer and used to run a rear drive V8 S F-Type, but if it were my money, I’d have the 4WD F-Type. Even if it is almost £5,000 more expensive.

Is cost the only drawback to the 4WD?

Well, I do think it slightly takes the edge of the V8’s astonishing mid- to high-rev lunge – probably as a result of the extra weight (90kg) rather than any transmission losses. Even so, it’s worth the trade-off.